Huskies may be left without Big East awards

Somebody from UConn will win Player of the Year, and unless another coach made big improvements from the previous season, Geno Auriemma likely will be the league's Coach of the Year.

This season, the Huskies may be shut out for All-Big East first-team selections for the first time since the 1984-85 season when the league holds its annual awards banquet tonight in Hartford.

"What happens at the banquet tomorrow night, it's going to be pretty predictable going in," UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. "We know we're not in a situation to get any awards, and nor do we deserve any at this point."

Guard Ann Strother may be the only UConn player in consideration for first-team honors. She leads the Huskies in scoring in conference games, averaging 12.3 points a game. Her Big East scoring average ranks 11th in the league.

The last time the Huskies failed to place a player on the first team, Auriemma wasn't even coaching the team. He took over the program starting the 1985-86 season and had at least one player garner first-team honors every season.

Picking the All-Big East first team, however, turned out to be a pretty daunting task for the league's coaches this season.

"I felt like there were just a lot of very good players this year," Villanova coach Harry Perretta said. "In some years, it was more clear cut - who's what and who's what. This year, I just felt like there's so many more players and this year, you kind of have three or four elite teams. So yeah, I found it more difficult picking certain players for certain awards."

During the season, 11 different players, none of whom where UConn players, earned the Player-of-the-Week honors. Preseason Big East Player of the Year Jacqueline Batteast of Notre Dame led the field with four distinctions. The forward likely will earn the regular-season Big East Player of the Year at the banquet tonight and will be just the second non-UConn player to get the award in 12 years.

Another tightly contested award is the Big East Freshman of the Year. UConn's Charde Houston, who was the preseason pick, is in the running with Rutgers guard Matee Ajavon and Pittsburgh center Marcedes Walker.

Choosing the Coach of the Year also may not be very easy. Even though Rutgers coach C. Vivian Stringer led the Scarlet Knights to their first outright Big East title since joining the league in 1995, St. John's coach Kim Barnes Arico also is making a very strong case for herself.

In her third season coaching the Red Storm, Barnes Arico compiled an 18-9 record, which is a seven-and-a-half game turnaround from last season's 10-18 mark. St. John's has its best record in 17 seasons and finished five spots better than last year's 11th-place finish in the Big East standings.

"I thought it was difficult to pick a lot of the things that you're asked to pick," Auriemma said. "I think the player of the year wasn't clear cut like it has been in past years. I thought the first team wasn't clear cut. There were a lot of great coaching jobs done this past season from Vivian to Kim at St. John's and Muffet (McGraw of Notre Dame). I just think that there's been an awful lot of unusual things to happen in this league."

ODDS AND ENDS: Pittsburgh's run in the Big East tournament could be very short. The No. 10 seed Panthers are without their top two leading scorers - Walker and guard Katie Histed. Walker broke a bone and tore ligaments in her right shoulder in a loss to Rutgers on Feb. 25. Histed is being held out for disciplinary reasons. Pittsburgh plays No. 7 West Virginia in the first round Saturday at 6 p.m. ... Despite finishing with a 1-26 record - 0-16 in Big East games - Providence will have a postseason appearance for the first time in coach Susan Yow's tenure. Then again, all the teams made the Big East tournament this season because there are only 12 teams in the league. But when the league adds five teams next season, the Friars will again be left out, barring any major turnaround. With a guaranteed invite this season, Providence is soaking in as much as it can. "As far as going into the tournament, I think we're very fortunate to be there," Yow said. "I think it's going to be really good for this young team because I think they need to be in the atmosphere of the Big East tournament."